Krugman: This Is Not a Recovery

[laughingliberal]

What will Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, say in his big speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo.? Will he hint at new steps to boost the economy? Stay tuned.

But we can safely predict what he and other officials will say about where we are right now: that the economy is continuing to recover, albeit more slowly than they would like. Unfortunately, that’s not true: this isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters. And policy makers should be doing everything they can to change that fact.

The small sliver of truth in claims of continuing recovery is the fact that G.D.P. is still rising: we’re not in a classic recession, in which everything goes down. But so what?

The important question is whether growth is fast enough to bring down sky-high unemployment. We need about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment from rising, and much faster growth to bring it significantly down. Yet growth is currently running somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, with a good chance that it will slow even further in the months ahead. Will the economy actually enter a double dip, with G.D.P. shrinking? Who cares? If unemployment rises for the rest of this year, which seems likely, it won’t matter whether the G.D.P. numbers are slightly positive or slightly negative. <snip>

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/opinion/27krugman.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[Skittles]

1. no, it isn't

[TheKentuckian]

2. Glad some people are starting to deal with reality instead of clapping for Tinkerbelle

[RC]

3. You can not have a recovery without living wage jobs.

No way, no how. We are still shipping our living wage jobs over seas!

[laughingliberal]

4. GDP doesn't mean a thing without jobs.

They touted all the growth in GDP during * years but only 3 million net jobs were created. The way things are set up now, only the top benefits from these 'recoveries.' I guess we could call them upper class recoveries.

[bvar22]

5. Jobless Recovery?

Productivity UP...check.
Wages DOWN...check
Unions BUSTED...check
More WEALTH flowing to the TOP....check
.
.
.
DLC Mission Accomplished!
:party:

"MAN! That Trickle Down Stimulus Scam & Wall Street Bailout really WORKED GREAT!
Just WAIT until 40 Million Americans are FORCED to BUY Health Insurance they can't afford to use!!!"

GOD its GREAT to be a PIG in the NEW Gilded Age!
I wonder what The POOR People are doing...
.
.
.
Not REALLY!!!
Hahahahahahahaha!

[asdjrocky]

6. Just the fact that the speech is being delivered in Jackson Hole

tells me everything I need to know.

We are invisible to these people.

[nashville_brook]

7. too many businesses are sitting on their cash reserves...raise the inflation target, and make it

a wiser move to spend now. otherwise it's all going to sink.